The Twin Ghosts of Gallifrey
by TimeLordParadox
Summary: Another day, another adventure for Sonic and his friends. Only this time after stumbling upon a strange blue box they are forced from their home time and place, and begin tumbling through the wider dimensions of Space and Time. All very exciting, except for one small issue... They can't get home.
1. Chapter 1

**Plot:** Another day, another adventure for Sonic and his friends. Only this time after stumbling upon a strange blue box they are forced from their home time and place, and begin tumbling through the wider dimensions of Space and Time. All very exciting, except for one small issue... They can't get home.

* * *

 **Authors notes:** Like all my crossover stories, this will focus on the point of view of the characters that are crossing over with Doctor Who. Since I think the Doctor is better if stuff isn't written from his point of view.

This is a crossover with a difference as rather than being a straight up crossover I thought "What would happen if I gave characters from another fictional universe the TARDIS?" and after thinking it through I thought why not give it to the Sonic crew? Will the Doctor show up? Maybe. ;)

I was in two minds to even write this story mostly because I don't know if it'll work. But *shrug* we'll treat it as an experiment shall we, dear reader ;) I do have a plot for it and I will write more of it in the future.

I'm going to be using the FanfictionNet phone app to read this story out to me so I can check the grammar and wording. So after each chapter is published if there are grammar mistakes, bear with me. I'll be fixing them in due time. I also have a habit of going back and re-editing chapters to alter the direction or tone of a story. But I'll let you know as the story progresses if I do that, in authors notes. ;)

I'm also a tad rusty with writing the Sonic characters, so please bear with me on that too.

Cheers and please enjoy

-TimeLordParadox

* * *

 **Sonic the Hedgehog/Doctor Who**

 **The Twin Ghosts of Gallifrey**

 **By TimeLordParadox**

 **(A.K.A. Ross Pickering)**

 **Chapter 1**

Time and Space whizzed past. Glowing lights, stars, galaxies, seconds and centuries of time all passing at once as it raced down the vortex like it was a plug hole. It was out of control. It's pilot lost, and it was running. Just running as fast as it could away from the darkness that tried to swallow it. It had been running around and around the circular vortex for years, centuries maybe. Where it was going, it didn't know. What it wanted, it didn't know. What was it? Where was it? What was its purpose?

It just kept going faster and faster around the loop, trying to outrun the darkness. When suddenly a centuries old component within failed, forcing it to skirt too close to the edge of the vortex and was forcibly ejected from it. As it fell through the void it felt itself burning white hot. It impacted something, and the heat of it was intense, but it barely burnt its surface and eventually the redness faded to black and it knew nothing, and would know nothing for centuries, and centuries, and centuries, and centuries.

Was this death?

* * *

Silence, just utter silence. It was almost deadening. The air was warm, yet cool and the sun beat down on her sharply. She sighed deeply as the calmness and stillness of the place just relaxed her. The lake was large but as flat as a millpond, almost like a polished mirror. The place was almost ethereal.

Never Lake held a special place in Amy Roses' heart. She visited here not as often as she'd like, but she tries to whenever she can find the time to go the distance it takes to get here, to this remote place.

As she looked up into the sky she thought back to that day many years ago when she'd finally met her hero, and her boyfriend. Sonic the Hedgehog, her hero. As she thought about her blue boyfriend she clenched her fists and wrapped her arms around her tightly with a scowl across her face. Though he was her boyfriend he didn't act like it. Probably because technically Amy Rose just assumed they were boyfriend and girlfriend because he never actually denied it.

Amy Rose wasn't human. Technically she was an anthropomorphic, pink hedgehog around 15 years old. She wore a red dress and red headband, and on each hand were a pair of white gloves.

She sighed. Her life had changed so much since meeting Sonic. All those years ago she'd met him here during a battle for something called 'Little Planet'. It was literally that, a planet that appeared in the sky above Never Lake only in very special circumstances. The planet was maybe the size of a small mountain when it appeared, but when you landed on it you realised it was a similar size to their own planet, Mobius. It was a strange little planet that held a great power. The power over time.

It had been years since Dr. Robotnik, a crazed scientists, had attempted to tap into that great power. But Sonic had stopped him and sent him to the junkyard where he belonged, freeing the little planet.

Oh, it had been so long ago, and since then Amy and Sonic had gotten closer. Not close enough for her, she wanted to get much, much closer. But Sonic had the problem of being the fastest thing on the planet, literally. He'd speed off at a million miles per hour leaving her in the dust. It's almost as if he didn't want to be her boyfriend. But she just chalked it up to him being very shy. He'd come around to her eventually once he got used to her. But some part of her got the feeling he'd never slow down to her pace.

For years Sonic and Robotnik had done this dance where Robotnik would threaten the world and Sonic would stop him. Robotnik would threaten the world, Sonic would stop him, again. Robotnik would threaten the world, Sonic would stop him, yet again. Robotnik would threaten the world, Sonic would stop him, again, and again, and again.

Amy began to get angry. She felt like she was playing second fiddle to that egg shaped scientist.

Robotnik was a mad scientist who wanted to conquer the world. Why? She didn't know. She didn't care. All she knew is that he was bad and always needed to be stopped. She didn't begrudge Sonic his quest to stop Robotnik whenever they butted heads, in fact she usually helped from time to time. She'd learnt fast that the only way she could become closer to her boyfriend is if she became a part of his adventures.

Sighing she decided to stretch out on the sand, raising her hands high above her head. She let her fingers dig a little into the sand and felt the coolness underneath as she tried to forget about Sonic for a little while.

She began to think about mundane things. Like what groceries she needs to get on the way home, what she was going to watch on TV. If she should by the new album from that band she liked, or the band that was currently popular. She could try to find someone to hang out with?

Amy suddenly felt a little sad as she realised that she didn't really have any other female friends to confined in her. She was always an oddball with her obsession over Sonic. So much so she'd defend his honour and threatened anyone who bad mouthed him. That was probably the reason she didn't have any female friends, she was too intensely passionate about her favourite subjects.

And again she was on the subject of Sonic.

Suddenly her fingers brushed up against something under the sand. Probably a buried twig or something. But as Amy pulled her hand free it felt like whatever it was had snagged on her glove.

Rolling onto her side she tugged and pulled it free.

It was a long, silver chain of some sort. As she pulled more of it free something popped out of the sand. It looked like a spade, shaped medallion of some sort. It had a very strange pattern on it that caught the light and seemed to reflect rainbows from its surface.

Oh, it was so pretty. The surface was blemished but it looked like it'd look even prettier after a little polish. Someone must've dropped it during a visit and its been sitting down there for years until Amy dug it up. Well, finders keepers.

She wrapped the chain around her neck and let the medallion dangle from it. The chain was so long though, that she'd practically be trailing this thing on the floor. So she wrapped the chain around her neck multiple times so it dangled around her stomach.

It was probably time for the trek back to the bus stop. At least she got something out of this trip other than nostalgia. She walked across the sand and looked back, up at the sky where the little planet would appear. She sighed deeply.

As she walked away she didn't suspect she was being watched.

* * *

From the surface of the water a periscope popped up and observed Amy Rose as she climbed up from the shore, into a meadow and walked away.

"Meddling little creature." spat Dr. Robotnik. A very large man of immense weight and immense intellect, if he should say so himself. And he sported a very bushy and rather fetching looking, orange moustache.

Robotnik was a mad scientist, and like all mad scientists, he wanted to conquer the universe. Why? Because it was a challenge. Robotnik had an IQ of over 300 and he got bored so easily with mundane things like super computers, disease cures and zero emission fuels, they were all childs-play to him. So he'd turned his talents to conquest instead of good. Some would say that made him two dimensional, but he didn't care. Unfortunately that meddling little hedgehog, Sonic also got bored easily and always saw fit to ruin his plans before they reached completion.

He waited a long moment to see if any other of Sonic's little gang suddenly showed up. But no, the pink rodent had been alone.

Robotnik admitted he'd nearly had a heart attack when he saw that pink rodent on the shore. He'd feared Sonic had found him before he had the chance to get up to any mischief. Thankfully the girl stayed for a few hours and seemed to be leaving now. Good.

Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman to his enemies; their name for him, not one he'd choose himself, polished his mirrored, prescription glasses and set his vehicle in motion again.

There was something at the bottom of Never Lake. He'd detected it the first time he'd came here seeking the power of the 'Little Planet', or the 'Miracle planet' as it was also called, some legends even called it Kasterborous, though what that meant he never found out. Anyway, he'd detected this power before, but he'd never had the chance to investigate it as the power of Kasterborous was more enticing to him.

He'd all but forgotten about it until recently when he passed this way. Kasterborous had not appeared, but that strange energy could still be detected in the lake. He'd assumed it would vanish with the planet, but it hadn't.

That's when Robotnik had ordered his Egg-carrier to land in the lake and sink to the bottom. He named most of his machines egg-something, which is probably why the irritating rodents called him Eggman. Now in the depths of the lake he'd finally found what he was looking for.

There appeared to be some kind of object laying at the bottom of the lake, buried within the bedrock. It must've been here for centuries, when this place used to be volcanically active for this thing to get buried inside.

Activating his Remote Operated Vehicles, or R.O.V.s, he piloted them down to this layer of bedrock and slowly they began chipping away at it. The stone was old and tough, but Robotnik had the patience to carefully remove this artefact from the bedrock without damaging it.

After hours of carefully chipping away at the rock, a slab of rock suddenly fell away and Robotnik could see the object, or a object at least. It was alien to this landscape. A tall, blue, wooden box of a panelled design. The only face of it he could see out of the rock had two windows, and above them was a sign, its words still eerily glowing in the gloom. The sign named this object as a 'Public Call Police Box' and it was written in English? Strange...

At first, Robotnik thought this was some mistake. This object looked far too modern to have been in this area when it used to be volcanic. But when he saw the energy reading spike as the R.O.V. detectors passed over this odd cabinet his mouth split into a toothy grin and he rubbed his fingers together. This machine was clearly alien and was disguised, and he was going to break in and discover its secrets.

* * *

 **To Be Continued...**

* * *

 **Authors notes:** I know some people want me to update my Mask crossovers with Sonic and Mario. But bear with me please. I'm going through them updating their grammar before I'll start writing for them again.

All feedback and reviews are welcome. Even the ones that say 'delete this story.' Whether I'll pay attention to a comment so blunt is another matter. :P ;)

This chapter is more just setting stuff up for events to come.

I'm not linking this story to any one Sonic Universe, mostly because I'm not aware of every universe, but also because I think I'll have more creative freedom if we just assume its in a continuity of its own.

Kasterborous is a name I've given for the 'Little Planet' just because I think it should have it's own name. There is a reason I've given it that name. So stay tuned folks. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Align the fuel injectors, check; check that the plugs spark, check; checked for air leaks, check; check, check and check.

He was finished!

Tails jumped down from his position on top of the nose of his plane, the Tornado and climbed onto the wings and into the cockpit and test fired the engine. It coughed and the rotor began turning by itself. But it wasn't firing. The air, fuel mixture should be good so this thing should start. It coughed, and exhaust gases coughed up from the exhaust. The engine continued to turn over but refused to fire.

He opened the throttle just for a second and let more fuel in. Eureka, it fired up! And it was idling beautifully. That was until he pulled on the throttle and gave it more fuel. Then it began hick-upping and the plane began to shake. Tails killed the engine. The fuel system must still have dirt from its dunking in the sea. Scratching at his temples he climbed out.

Tails, or Miles Prower as named by his parents, was very gifted when it came to mechanics but even he had to trouble shoot engine problems when they happened.

Tails was a yellow fox of around ten years of age. He wasn't very tall by human standards, and by Mobian standards he was still quite short, but he was only ten, and a boy genius. Tails tail also looked like it split into two bushy strands. But that's only what it looked like, in reality the split tail was in fact two tails. Tails had twin tails, a genetic abnormality he'd been born with. It was his most defining characteristic. He'd started off hating them because of the amount of bullying it attracted to him, but in recent years he'd found they had their uses, especially when it came to getting away from the said bullies.

He'd been working on the Tornado for the better half of a month trying to get a proper fuel flow into the engine. During its last flight out when it had needed to follow Dr. Eggman Robotnik's flying machines it was unfortunately shot down. Tails didn't bale though, he loved this plane, and he forced it to land in the water with only superficial damage to the fuselage. Unfortunately it had began to sink and by the time he got anything around to dig it out, it had sunk. Glug, glug, glug.

Tails was so close to getting the girl back on her feet. A month of repairing the fuselage damage, taking the engine apart, breaking the block open. Meticulously cleaning every component before placing it all back on the engine block, and still it didn't work. Could be dirt in the fuel pipe still, or maybe an air leak in the manifold. Or it could be something as simple as the computer map not being set up correctly.

Scratching his head he went to his workshops work bench and moved aside some of the strange machines he had littering the place. A gun like object clattered to the floor and he picked it back up.

Tails was not only a genius, but an inventor too. Several of these objects were first time inventions, made by him. He didn't patent them though, he couldn't afford to pay for it, and besides, what he built wasn't exactly things you could market to the public.

How many people in the world need a detector that reads off Chaos Energy? For example. Tails put the Chaos Detector back and began rummaging around until he found what he was looking for. A small computer and connector to check the engines computer fuelling map. If the map was off that could also explain why it behaved the way it did.

There was a knock at the door of his workshop and before he could answer it, the door opened and Amy Rose strolled in.

"Hi Tails!" she said cheerily.

"Hi Amy" he called back. He knew precisely why she was here. It was written on her face. She came by because she was looking for Sonic. "Sonic's not here by the way."

"Tails, tails" she waved her hand dismissively tutting "I didn't come here to see Sonic, I wanted to see how you were and what you were up to."

"Okay." Tails said sceptically.

"But seriously, where is Sonic?" Amy added quickly.

"Out on a run." he said as he connected the computer to the Tornados engine.

"Oh, okay, so he's coming back. I can wait!" She said and sat on a stool at the edge of Tails' work bench. Amy was a sweet girl, but sometimes her love for Sonic made her cold around other people.

Tails didn't mind. He was used to the company of machines than he was people. In a lot of ways he preferred it. Machines couldn't hurt you, nor cause you pain. They just did their task for you and that was it. Sure, a machine couldn't love, but it also couldn't hate either.

That's not to say Tails didn't like people. He did like Amy, as a friend, and he liked his best friend Sonic. Sonic was hardly even negative or hateful. He was always upbeat and supportive of Tails, and Tails like that.

Tails fired up the engine and Tails turned on the computer. He suddenly heard a horrible screeching. He thought there must've been something wrong, maybe a bad connection to the engine. But when he turned the engine off as well as the computer the noise still persisted.

He leapt down from the cockpit of the plane and followed where the noise was coming from.

"Hey, shut that thing off. It's driving me nuts." Amy said, her hands clamped down over her ears.

Tails picked up the device. It was the Chaos Energy Detector. He called it that, but it could detect a heck of a lot more than Chaos Energy.

He waved it left and right, maybe it was picking up a Chaos Emerald and Sonic was bringing it back. But no, it wasn't set to pick up Chaos Energy, it was set to detect Chronitons, time particles. The dial must've been knocked when he dropped it.

There were time particles, in here?

Tails turned down the volume on the machine and waved the detector here an there.

"What's with that?" Amy asked.

"It's detecting time particles." Tails said, thinking it better to not use Chronitons or else he'd have to explain what they were. He followed the signal right to Amy. "Its coming from you?"

"Me? I know I'm timeless, but I think that machine is busted."

Tails brought it closer and only now did he notice the shiny, spade shaped medallion around her neck that danced, glinted and caught the light in such a way it refracted rainbows. The signal became even stronger as he pressed the nose of his detector up against it.

"Hey, do you mind?" Amy protested as Tails turned off his detector.

"Amy, what is that?" Tails asked.

"Oh, this old thing?" Amy said, "I found it at Never Lake, buried in the sand. I've spent the past few hours polishing it and shortening the chain." She adopted a pose. "It looks good on me doesn't it?" she paused as a thought came to her. "Wait, that machine, it doesn't say this medallion is dangerous does it?" She was wise enough to know when an innocent object could be dangerous. In their case it usually was.

"Chronitons, or time particles, are harmless." Tails said, "Millions travel through our bodies every single second. They're what cause Time to happen, a higher concentration of them usually means something is warping Space and Time. But that medallion?" It looked harmless enough.

"Wait, you found it at Never Lake?" Tails asked. "The place where that Mysterious Little Planet, Kasterboros appears?"

"Kaster-what?" Amy questioned

"That's its proper name," Tails explained, "The place that houses the Time Stones?"

"Yeah, that's it." Amy said.

The Time Stones were six gems which had the power to warp and shape local time around them. Tails had never found one to study, but from what Sonic told of them, they were powerful.

"Do you remember where you found it?" Tails asked, "I mean precisely?"

"Sure," Amy said "Why, what's the rush?"

"I'm not sure but..." Tails said as he picked up his Chaos Detector and zipped it up in a travel bag. "...It seems to me that spade is calling out to something. A sister medallion for example, or something. If it can produce Chronitons in that volume then it might be a good idea to go get it before Dr. Robotnik finds it."

Tails then picked up a large hammer from the desk and went up to the Tornado. Before he'd turned off the computer it had told him precisely what to do to get the Tornado working again, and it was so simple. He climbed into the cockpit and attempted to fire up the engine. It started. but struggled when the throttle was opened. But then Tails brought the hammer down sharply on the motor. Now it coughed and was brought back to life running on all cylinders and producing one, beautiful note. He's got the knack!

"Hop in" he told Amy.

* * *

The strange object was rolled in on a platform. It looked like a wooden box, the panelled design went all around it. There were two windows on each side and what looked like a lantern was on top of it. It was also quite solid, a very deep shade of blue, and the paint on it was so thick that it might be radiation proof. Now that it was in the light the sign above seemed to have stopped glowing, but there was a dull glow coming from within those windows.

Robotnik circled the machine with his hand on his chin thinking what it could be. His instruments told him this box contained a large source of Chronitons. Considering this box was buried in stone that was millions upon millions of years old it could only mean one thing. This object had time travelled, and considering how solid it still was after all these years logic dictated that it only 'looked' like it was made of wood. In reality it must be made of something far more robust.

Examining it he found what he assumed were doors. There was a panel set into one side that was covered in a scorched dust. Wiping it away he found a sign which said.

Police Telephone

Free for use of Public

Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately

Officers and Cars respond to all calls

Pull to open.

So its disguised as a telephone booth? Robotnik reached up to a handle on one of the doors, and pulled.

SNAP! "YAHHHH!"

He yanked his hand back as the machine gave him a sharp and unpleasant electric shock. Despite wearing gloves the machine had just shocked him? That wasn't possible, and 'impossible' didn't improve his mood much.

Next to the handle he saw a small slit, that looked like something should slide into it. Some sort of key perhaps to open the door. Robotnik laughed. He didn't need a key to break into this thing.

He snapped his fingers and a large, robotic arm came down and grabbed the box and lifted it up. Another robotic arm appeared, this one had a large drill bit on the end the size of his arm. It activated and pressed itself against the "Police Box" lock. Sparks erupted and the sound of tortured metal echoed throughout the room. When it was done Robotnik nearly fell off his chair when he saw what had happened.

There was a neat, polished circle area around the lock, and his drill... it wasn't a drill any more! It was a flat disk! Under it, piled up on the floor were metal shards, all that was left of the drill. The box was undamaged.

Robotnik grunted. This was a very robust box. No matter, he has plenty of time to examine it back at base.

Now back at the controls of his Egg-Carrier he engaged the thrusters and the large vessel began to surface.

* * *

Tails and Amy had touched down at Never Lake again. Tails had his Chaos Detector out and was scanning the area for any object emitting Chroniton particles.

"I should've hitched a ride with you Tails. We got here in no time." Amy said.

Tails had landed the Tornado in a clearing further away and they'd had to walk here.

Funnily enough, Tails had never been to Never Lake before. Sonic and Amy had obviously, but this was before he'd met either of them. It was eerily peaceful, kind of like a grave yard. There's a morbid thought.

The detector bleeped and made a noise. Whatever this medallion was calling out to it was difficult to find because the place was swarming with Chroniton particles. He turned around in a circle waiting to see if anything spiked.

"Why am I here exactly?" Amy asked looking impatient as if she had better things to do.

"Because you wouldn't give me that medallion of yours to study." Tails replied. He knew precisely why Amy was here. It was fast, blue and she wanted it badly, and she probably expected to bump into it if she stuck with him long enough.

Suddenly there was a spike on the monitor. It was there for a brief second an then it died away back to background levels. Tails re-aimed his detector and, yes; yes! There was a large source of Chroniton particles, a narrow beam of them coming from Never Lake, or the bottom of it.

Tails sighed and his shoulder sank, he should've brought some diving equipment.

But suddenly there was a disturbance on the calm surface of Never Lake as something broke the surface. A large something. A large, red something made of metal and with the round, orange logo of a smiling, bushy moustached man on its side. The air ship freed itself and its massive thrusters propelled it into the air.

"Isn't that Robotnik?" Amy screeched over the noise of its thrusters as they blasted a gale down at them.

Tails pointed his Chaos Detector up at the retreating craft. It sure was Robotnik, and by the look on Tails' Chaos Detector he already had the thing they were looking for.

* * *

 **To Be Continued...**

* * *

 **Authors notes:** Where Sonic CD (which features Never Lake and the Little Planet.) fits into the Time Line is always a mystery. Some put it before Sonic 2, when Sonic meets Tails, others after Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Either way, Tails has never been to Never Lake before.

Chronitons are real theoretical particles that produce time.

I'm trying to streamline my writing style. It's been said I usually pack far too much information into my writing and it just holds stuff up while I give an info dump. So hopefully this chapter flows better than most of my other chapters.

I do some work on engines as a hobby. However they are air-cooled VW engines, so I hope the knowledge translates well to a prop planes engine.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors notes:** The story now has artwork. Check it out. :P

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

The Egg-carrier blasted off and slowly headed towards home base, which was approximately two hundred miles away and expertly hidden in the mountains where no one could find it.

As the machine flew Robotnik began to rub his hands together and think of how he could get into that bothersome box.

He'd just tried prying it open with a crowbar, obviously that didn't work. He'd tried using jackhammers, hacksaws, power tools and lasers; but none of these methods even scratched it. He tried a battering ram on the door, but all it resulted in was a busted battering ram.

Whatever the heck this thing was made from it was certainly tough. What else could he do? The door was impregnable. The only thing he could think of was to track down where the key was to open the door.

A proximity alarm suddenly blared from around him and Robotnik tore himself away from the box to check what the carrier had detected. He felt his heart rate sky-rocket and he gritted his teeth. No, no, no, no, it can't be, not this soon!

A small prop plane was currently flying after him at top speed. It was a plane Robotnik recognised as belonging to that twin tailed fox freak Tails. Which must mean Sonic is on his trail somewhere. Drat it all, why couldn't that blue fur ball leave him alone? His plans for world domination would happen must more smoothly if that blue rat would just crawl into a hole and die!

Robotnik could put full power to the engines and try to outrun them, but he knew that plane was faster than it looked. Tails was a mechanical genius. Not on his level obviously, but was good enough to out fit that plane with some neat little gadgets to make it faster. But still, he'd shot that antique down once before, he could easily do it again.

A cruel and creepy smile crept along his lips as he maintained current speed and waited for the plane to get with in range. Then he opened fire.

* * *

The wind whipped past Amy's face as the plane followed Robotnik's Egg-Carrier. Thankfully Tails had lent her a pair of flight goggles so her eyes weren't squinting against the breeze. Amy was firmly buckled into her seat behind Tails, expecting there to be a dog fight, but Tails had no intention of engaging the Egg-Carrier. Tails didn't want to send the Tornado into another dog fight, not this soon after he'd repaired her, so they were just going to follow Robotnik's Egg-Carrier to home base and then plan how they were going to find and recover the source of Chronitons.

"I still think we should've waited for Sonic!" Amy shouted over the engine.

"How are we supposed to contact him? He doesn't have a cell phone." Tail shouted back. Tails had given Sonic a communicator of sorts but Sonic didn't seem to ever have it on him. He guessed Sonic didn't like to be contacted while he was having fun. Tails had tried to explain to him that a phone has a silent function, but Sonic never seemed interested. Last Tails had seen of Sonics communicator it was propping up his coffee table. Anyway, Tails had a feeling he knew why Sonic didn't own a phone, it was so Amy didn't call him every six seconds. "Besides, you know what Sonic is like. He always shows up when he's needed."

The plane suddenly buffeted as incoming fire struck the fuselage.

"You mean like right now?" Amy screamed. The Egg-carrier had opened fire on them. Tails thought it strange that the Egg-carrier was slowing down, but he was so preoccupied talking about Sonic and Cell phones the oddity didn't register.

"Hold on!" Tails shouted and took the stick to bank left.

He activated a switch and the plane did something no other plane could. The wings split apart and became an X, the tail bent so it had a kink in it. The entire body became more aerodynamic as it transformed so it could travel at a much swifter speed. The underside of the fuselage opened up and two jet engines neatly folded out and promptly fired up.

The transformed Tornado took off with a great burst of speed. Tails raced as fast as he could but it looked like Robotniks computer A.I. had gotten a lot better. Usually Robotniks A.I.'s aim was so bad that the machines always aimed where Tails was, not where he was going to be. But as he looked back he saw that the rain of fire was following them and getting closer. So Tails had to be as unpredictable as possible and not fly in a straight line for any more than two seconds, or else the rain of bullets would get them.

This was like a re-match between the Egg-Carrier and the Tornado-plane. But Tails was worried. He'd just fixed this plane. It felt like he'd just given someone open heart surgery and now he was forcing the patient to go free running.

Unfortunately the stress started to show on the plane as bullets pierced the hull, but thankfully missed both of them. The Tornado was in no shape to fight so Tails took the flight stick and retreated. He dived straight down and pretended like he had been hit and was out of control.

A spray of lasers from behind him told him Robotnik wasn't fooled by this trick, and he wasn't going to let him just run away. He'd sent several drone-badniks after them. Badniks being the name they gave to the robots Robotnik built to protect himself and fight off Sonic. They looked like three spheres joined together with the two outer spheres with spinning helicopter blades on top, while the central one housed the weapon.

If Sonic was here he could just spin attack them, but right now all Tails could do was run.

He dived his plane straight down towards the rocky ground below. But the drones still followed him. Clearly they weren't going to go away until Tails, Amy and the Tornado were just a smear of scrap on the ground.

They needed cover, and fast. From up here Tails noticed a long and narrow chasm in the rock where a river was flowing. It was the perfect spot and he dived straight towards it. The chasm was so narrow though that one wrong turn and they'd be smashed across the cliff face.

"Are you nuts?" Amy shouted at Tails. But Tails wasn't listening as he began weaving in and out of stone pillars created over millions of years of erosion, and brought down in a few seconds as Tails released metal shards from the Tornado's aft, which confused the drones sensors causing them to fly into the stacks, the stacks then collapsed.

Unfortunately they still had three on their tail, and one would be enough to bring them down.

Bobbing back above the chasm Tails punched it towards an approaching forest. Still staying low he hoped the dirt the engines threw up would be enough to blind their pursuers enough for what he was about to do.

"Tails, you can't fly in there. The Trees are too tightly packed!" Amy screamed.

"Yes, I know." Tails shouted.

"That means we're going to crash!" Amy screamed again.

"Yes, I know. Just hold on!" Tails said.

"Tails, Tails, Tails, TAILS!" Amy screamed.

Just as he was about to enter the trees, he lowered the nose and banked slightly to the port-side so the tip of the wing dug into the dirt. Then, quickly he forced the stick hard to port, the extra turning force of the wing being dragged into the dirt allowing the Tornado to turn on a dime and it blasted off in front of the trees.

The drones were so blinded by the dirt they couldn't tell they were about to fly into an obstacle until it was too late. Explosions rang out in the forest as they were destroyed.

Tails suddenly felt Amy bash him on the head. "Don't you dare do that again! You're as bad as Sonic!"

But shots were fired again and the pair ducked down to shield themselves. There was one drone left.

"Leave this one to me." Amy said, unbuckling her seat-belt and standing up. Tails didn't have to say how incredibly dangerous that was, but Amy seemed determined and confident in what she was about to do. "Just keep the Tornado steady." And she pulled out a big, red hammer. Her Piko Piko hammer, her signature weapon. Tails understood what she was going to try so he eased off the throttle to slow the Tornado down, and the drone came right at them.

Amy tensed, raised her hammer behind her back and swung it. It smashed into the drone so hard the thing shattered into a million pieces.

"Good work." Tails said, opening the throttle again as Amy got back into her seat and they began gaining altitude. He shot up over a cliff face and found himself face to face with the Egg-Carrier! Robotnik must've been following them to make sure they were finished off.

The proximity alarm suddenly went off, and Tails didn't have time to react as a missile struck the Tornado, blasting the tail off. Tails now had no control over the Tornado as it just began falling out of the sky, and Amy's screaming didn't help him concentrate.

He still had control of the wing aileron so he tried to pull the nose up just enough to soften the landing. They were heading straight for the Egg-Carriers deck, and it was no good. The Tornado was going to crash and burn.

Quickly, he pulled on a lever and both he and Amy were ejected from the plane. While in the air he grabbed onto Amy's arms and held his tails high as he began to demonstrate one of his party pieces. His tails began to spin back and forth, back and forth, back and forth rapidly until they produced the upward force of small helicopter blades, which slowed their fall significantly. Tails had to grip onto Amy's arms tightly, she was heavier than she looked but he didn't want to voice it just now, he hoped the strain on his face would be clear enough. He guessed it was because Amy stopped looking scared long enough to look up into his face and say. "Hey! I'm not that heavy!"

"Yes you are." Tails said. He was sure he felt Amy's hands squeeze his arms even tighter. "It's your hammer, that's what's heavy!" Tails added quickly, but Amy did not look convinced.

Tails watched as the Tornado finally admitted defeat, crashing into the deck and was ripped into a million pieces as it exploded. Tails just watched, dumbfounded. He'd felt like he'd just watched an old friend die.

Setting Amy down and gently landing himself they unfortunately didn't have much time to react or come up with a plan as Badniks came out of every corner, every small cubby-hole and surrounded them. Their weapons all pointing directly at them. Amy held up her hammer but Tails could tell they were outmatched. There was no way they could defeat all these Badniks.

"Ah, it seems I have a few rats on my ship." Came Dr. Robotnik's voice over a loudspeaker system.

"Rat?!" Amy cried indignant, "You come here and say that to my face Egg-man!"

"I've got more important things to do than deal with pests." Robotnik said, laughing. "Where is Sonic? I'm sure he's not very far behind."

"Sonic will come for me!" Amy shouted, "Just you wait until he gets here!"

"Haha, I don't doubt it, you prissy little princess." Amy looked angry, but rather than bite back she just looked like she was seething. She was brought back to reality when a Badnik robot grabbed her wrists and held her tightly. Another Badnik did the same with Tails.

"Show our 'guests' to their quarters" Robotnik said, "I could use some more 'test subjects' for what I have planed. Wmhahahaha!"

* * *

As the Egg-Carrier flew away it didn't notice over the horizon a long blue streak rolling across the meadows. Through forests, across rivers and through solid boulders, blasting them apart. This was an almost unstoppable, powerful force.

It zoomed past a tall mountain, but it came to a grinding stop, before spinning around, heading back and climbing up to the peak of the mountain. Over rock and through snow the force just ploughed straight through it. Circling the peak he came to the very tip and the blur of blue began to spin around at its tip. The spinning slowed to a stop and the creature that caused this power stood perched on the peak of this mountain, the soles of his red shoes were bigger than the tip of the peak, but he stood there with perfect balance despite standing tall.

The creature crossed his arms across his chest as he looked out at the massive air-ship starting to move away. Whenever Robotnik moved he was always likely to run across him. At the speed he could run he could cover the planet in a day, and with how large and grand old Egg-head Robotnik liked to build his air-ships it was difficult to miss him.

Leaping off the edge of the peak, he skidded on the soles of his shoes all the way down the edge of the cliff. He was coming towards a lip where the mountain flicked upwards. Leaping up and raising his arms, he brought them down towards his knees sending him into a fast spin, curling up into a ball like a hedgehog would. When he came to the lip he was flung high into the air and the creature unfurled his arms and legs out as far as he could and just felt the breeze blast past him and pretended for one second that he could fly.

He was still high above the ground, but that didn't concern him. He knew how to land so he took little to no damage. Tails could probably explain it scientifically using diagrams and maths, but it worked, that's all he needed to know. He impacted the ground and rolled into a spin, transferring the momentum from falling to rolling. The ball unfurled again and the creature began running after the Egg-carrier.

Clearly Dr. Egg-man was up to something and he was going to find out what.

* * *

 **To Be Continued...  
**

* * *

 **Authors notes:** Though I hate the name Egg-man, I've made it so Robotnik is his real name and is the name he actually goes by, and Egg-man is the name Sonic gives him to annoy him. Come on, would you take anyone seriously who calls themselves Egg-man?

I know it's a tad convenient for Sonic to run across Robotnik now. But honestly throughout the whole series Sonic always seems to stumble upon Robotnik's plots before he can get any headway with them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Well, things looked rather hopeless now. Amy thought looking at the glowing, red energy barrier that sealed them in. Amy pressed her hand to the surface and the barrier shimmered and pushed her back.

"Ha, Robotnik should've checked my dress." Amy said and pulled out her large Piko, Piko hammer. "Because I still got my hammer, and we're busting out of this joint!" and she attacked the barrier as hard as she could, but each strike was just forced back. She kept attacking until she was panting for breath and had to stop. "Okay. This wall is solid." Amy admitted finally. That was why he'd left her with her hammer, she couldn't exactly use it to escape.

Tails looked distressed with his hands in his face so she went to console him. "Hey, don't worry. Sonic will find us, eventually."

"Huh?" Tails said, snapping out of his thoughts, "What...? No, no, I'm not worried about that." He sighed, "It's just, the Tornado... We've been through a lot together."

"Oh yeah, you two were almost inseparable." Amy said, sitting down next to Tails and putting a supportive arm around him.

"She used to be Sonics' until I took over maintenance, she became mine." Tails said, clasping his hands together.

"You could always build another." Amy suggested patting him on the back.

"But it won't be the same one. I knew how that plane handled. I knew precisely how to kick it to get the engine to fire, I knew how to feed the throttle to get a good response. It was like she was an extension of myself." Tails said sadly.

"Hey, no sweat, when we get out of here we'll give Robotnik a good bashing for shooting her down." Amy said, winking. But revenge didn't seem to be on Tails' mind.

"No, it's my fault. She wasn't ready to fly, I knew that. I should've waited until I'd fixed everything." He sniffed. "It's my fault she's gone..."

Amy didn't really know how to console Tails. To her it was just a machine, what did it matter if it was destroyed, just build another one. But boys always grew attached to their toys. Especially Tails, she could understand why. He was an only child, bullied most of his life, he only ever found comfort in machines.

Amy hugged the young fox and he hugged her back. Part of her wanted to tell him to 'get over it' but she knew how much that plane meant to Tails.

Amy was more worried about when Sonic would show up. She hoped it'd be soon. She didn't want to spend an extra hour here more than she had to.

Subconsciously she began playing with the spade shaped medallion around her neck.

* * *

Finally the box had been transported into his factory, and Robotnik had countless machines analysing it trying to figure out what the heck it was. Lasers scanned over it and a print-out told him the following information.

Exterior vaguely resembles a 1950s, Police Telephone Box. Used by local law enforcers to communicate with HQ before the invention of the radio.

Robotnik disregarded this info, he wanted to know what was inside it. He found the internal scan. It said 'error'. What was that supposed to mean? He ran the scans again, and again another print out said 'error.' What was wrong with this thing?

Scratching his head he dived into the computer code to see what the pure code said and he found the values that were producing the 'error' message. The object seemed to have absolutely nothing inside it, so zero mass. Yet at the same time had infinite mass inside it?

That didn't make sense, hence why the computer produced an error message, it had nothing within its programming to describe what it had found, and neither could Robotnik, not just from the pure code. He'd have to find out the old fashioned way, by going inside.

Rubbing his temples Robotnik decided to try to inspect the key hole to see if he could produce a copy of it. He filled the hole with wax and waited for it to harden. He then pulled out an object that looked like a small spade of some kind. Quickly using that mould his computer had forged an exact replica of the spade in metal. Robotnik had inserted it into the lock and... it refused to turn. Robotnik tried sanding down the key so it was nice and smooth and tried again. But all he got for his troubles was a sharp electric shock and the replica key had melted.

In frustration he smashed his fist into the box, resulting in nothing more than some bruised knuckles and him screaming at the top of his lungs.

He'd need to track down the real key if he was going to gain entry to this box. Wait, the spade shape. He'd seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place where. He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned backwards in his chair as he thought. A small spade, a small spade... where had he seen a small spade?

Robotnik nearly fell off his chair when he heard the alarms going off. Something was inside the compound and by a quick look at the monitors Robotnik could guess what, or rather 'who' it was.

* * *

It was currently night and all around the base flood lights engaged as something moved through the base very swift and very fast. The base was set into a large crater where no one without an aerial view could find it. Unfortunately something had found it.

Weaving in and out of top heavy, bipedal robots a blue something swished around them, under them and through them before they realised what the heck it was.

A small army of them gathered together into the path of this blue streak, but they were all blasted away before they could even register what it was. Finally the blue streaked stopped to take in its bearings.

"This is where the fun begins." Said Sonic the Hedgehog. A blue, anthropomorphic hedgehog, with long blue quills in a blow back kind of style with his quills sticking out behind him. Green eyes that betrayed his rebellious, teenage attitude, white gloves and a pair of red, buckled shoes that needed to be replaced as often as formula one tyres.

"What are you up to this time, Egg-man?" Sonic called into the base.

"Would you believe me if I told you 'nothing'?" Robotnik said over a loud speaker.

"No," Sonic said, checking out the tips of his fingers.

"Drat!" Came a dull voice from the loudspeaker. Sonic just rolled his eyes. Did he honestly think that would fool him? "This is harassment, I'll sue you!"

"What for, breaking into your super secret, and illegal, military, industrial chemical complex that breaks all kinds of pollution quotas, no safety parameters, and commits such cruelty to animals that it'd make PETA blush?"

"Don't get wise with me!" Robotnik shouted.

"I really have no choice." Sonic grinned. He loved winding Robotnik up like this. He had such a short fuse and in a fit of ego he'd reveal all his plans.

"Either you leave me alone or you can say goodbye to your twin tailed pal and that prissy pink girl of yours." and so his ego revealed all.

"Ah ha, so you 'are' up to something." Sonic said coolly as he stretched an arm across his chest to loosen it up.

"Wait, what? Oh crap!" he was fuming now, and before he could open his mouth to speak again Sonic had took off and was going through his army of Badniks like they were bowling pins.

* * *

Robotnik had to think fast. Sonic was tearing through his forces. Maybe he should just cut his losses. Take the blue box and run and abandon this base along with Tails and Amy. He moved over to the monitor and was about to give the order to abandon ship when he noticed something glinting on that pink hedgehogs stomach.

Robotniks eyes focused on it. The monitor had a poor picture but he could see it was a silver, polished spade. His eyes widened, the key! Amy has the key! He must have it!

Robotnik programmed all Badniks to converge on Sonic and keep him busy while he retrieved that key.

* * *

Inside the cell Amy and Tails felt the floor shake. Either Robotnik was testing something, or something was testing Robotnik.

"I'll bet that's Sonic!" Amy said, and her face looked dreamy, "I can sense him nearby."

If that was true then they'd be out of here in no time. And no sooner had he thought that then a bunch of Badniks came to the cell door and opened it.

"Bring the prisoners to me." Robotniks voice called, and the Badniks, that looked like large garbage cans, hovered in, forcing Amy and Tails to put their hands up. Amy's hammer was still in her dress and she thought it best not to pull it out in case the Badniks were quicker than she was.

The dozen or so Badniks marched them out of the cell, out of the laboratory which housed Robotniks gruesome experiments, and out towards the command centre.

"I wonder why Robotnik wants us to come to him?" Tails asked, Robotnik had never needed them as hostages before.

"Maybe as protection, against Sonic." Amy suggested.

"Maybe..." Tails wondered for a second. He looked at Amy to see if she was as scared as he was. They may be scared, but they must be prepared for whatever Robotnik intended for them. That's when he remembered about the spade around Amy's neck. The thing that had set them off on this whole adventure.

"Amy, hide that thing!" Tails said, nodding down to it.

"My medallion?" Amy asked.

"Yes, hide it, throw it away or something. I think Robotnik might know what it is." Tails whispered.

"How am I supposed to hide it, I can't lower my arms." Amy whispered.

"Follow my lead." Tails said, and he moved next to Amy and fell on top of her. Amy resisted at first until she saw the look in Tails eyes and fell to the floor with him. They had both pretended to slip on the polished floor. In the confusion Amy didn't have time to remove the chain from her neck, so settled for tucking it down the front of her dress and hiding the chain.

"Get up!" Said the Badnik in a robotic voice.

"It's not my fault the floor is so slick!" Amy said getting up. "You guys can't tell how slippy the floor is when you just hover over it." She said as she helped Tails get up.

Now with their hands up again they walked up into the command room, a large chamber of brightly coloured steal and metal. It was cold, mechanical and robotic. At a large table was Robotnik, watching a hologram screen of Sonic battling one of Robotniks mega-robots. In one corner of the room was a wooden, blue crate of some kind with glowing windows that were faded so you couldn't see through them.

"Ah, Tails, Amy. Welcome, we meet again at last." Robotnik said, trying to sound like a smooth Bond villain, but his manic grin made him look every bit the creep. He walked up to the box and patted it. "Recognise this?"

"Huh?" Tails said, looking at Amy, and Amy looked at him. A mental shrug passed between them.

"Don't play dumb with me! You have the key that opens it!" Robotnik accused. "I saw it on the monitor."

"Key?" Amy questioned, she looked at Tails, and Tails gave her a look which he hoped said 'play along with him'. "Oh, you mean my medallion?" Amy said, "Why it's right..." and she felt around her stomach area "... right here?" She looked down and faked some concern that it was gone. "Oh no, I've lost it!"

"Garbage!" Robotnik spat.

"No, wait!" Tails said, "We fell over outside, didn't we. It probably slipped off back there."

Robotnik stamped, pointed at a Badnik and ordered it to "Go back along the route, find that spade like key and bring it to me!"

Tails glanced at the holo-table as the Badnik went out to look for the key that was hiding under their noses. Sonic was battling a large, Squid type of robot, and by the look of it Sonic was slowly but surely winning against it as he leapt onto its tentacles and used them to make his way up to its head where it impacted himself into its head, slowly shaking it to pieces.

"What the heck is that thing?" Amy asked, nodding at the blue box.

"This?" Robotnik said, patting the box. "A relic of a bygone era, an object that contains such power, such a large amount of temporal energy just waiting to be tapped."

"A phone booth?" Amy questioned. They could see on a door the sign which said 'Police Telephone.'

"Merely a disguise," Robotnik said rubbing his fingers together, "A disguise I intend to strip away."

"What do you need a key for?" Tails asked trying to keep him talking, "Just break it down. It's only made of wood!"

"Ah, but you see, my dear Tails. It's not made of wood. It's made of an extremely tough material. I can't even break away an atom to analyse it. It's as if its entire structure is bound together. Not affected by the passage of time, weathering, nor entropy. The only thing I can scratch from it are flecks of the paint that covers it, but never the material underneath."

"That's ridicules" Tails said. Everything in the universe was affected by entropy, it was the second law of thermodynamics. Everything fell a part due to a rise of Chaos in the relative order of the universe. That's how time worked. Time followed the path of chaos.

"Ridicules, and yet this thing refuses to give up a mere atom of its secrets. Not without the key that is."

Tails looked at the holo-table again. Sonic had just taken down the squid monster and was heading this way by the look of it.

"But you haven't explained what it is." Tails said. Robotnik just stared at Tails a good long while before he said. "I don't have to explain anything to you!"

"You don't know do you!" Amy accused.

"Um... no." Robotnik admitted "But I'll soon find out, and when I do, nothing will be able to stop me!"

No sooner had those words left his mouth than the door to his control room was blasted down. Amy squealed as the smoke cleared and standing on its threshold was Sonic the Hedgehog!

"SONIC!" she screeched so loud it could shatter glass. "I knew you'd come." He winked at her and gave her a thumbs up. "Oh, he's such a person of few words."

"Agh!" Robotnik said, suddenly falling to his hands an knees. "No! I surrender! Please, don't hurt me!"

Tails raised an eyebrow. "Don't fall for it Sonic!"

"Nah, what do you take me for buddy?" Sonic said, casually strolling into the room. "Egg-man has pulled that trick one too many times for me to believe him." He stretched his arms and legs. "Okay, what do you want me to fight this time? Big, buzzer, bee robots? A heavily armoured, missile launcher? An upgraded Metal Sonic? Come on, throw something at me!"

"No tricks this time Sonic!" Robotnik said getting up and backing against the table. "None at all. You win. Take your friends and just leave."

Sonic stopped advancing and looked at the floor, then up at the ceiling, then left and right. Keeping a close eye out for a dirty trick.

His ears twitched as he sensed it, and moved out of the way just in time as some kind of dart sailed past his midsection and impacted into the far wall. In fact, several flew past, all fired from different directions.

"OW!" Sonic shouted, his eyes wide as he pulled another dart from his backside. Multiple darts had all been fired at once, and one caught Sonic right in his posterior. "You're gonna pay for that." Sonic said angrily.

He took a step forward, and suddenly fell face first into the floor. "Hey, what the...?" he mumbled into the floor. He tried to get up but it looked like Sonic was unsteady on his feet.

Robotnik roared with laughter. "I don't know why I never thought of this before." He grinned and giggled, "Darts, loaded with a powerful anaesthetic. It'll numb your entire body."

"Hey, no fair!" Sonic said, his speech starting to slur. His arms were starting to become wobbly like jelly.

"You give him the antidote, right now!" Amy said, as she produced her Piko, Piko hammer. But a quick swipe from the Badniks lifted her off the floor and plucked it from her grasp.

As she was being held up, something glittered as it fell from Amy's dress, her dangling feet kicked it by mistake and it clattered over towards Robotnik's feet.

The medallion! The key! The chain must've broke as Amy pulled out her hammer.

"Ah ha!" Robotnik said, stooping down to pick it up. "What have we got here?" he looked at his prize with glee. "You sneaky little rodent. You nearly had me fooled." He caressed the key as if it was his prized possession. "Watch them!" He ordered his Badniks as Robotnik went up to the box with glee in his face.

He slid the key into the lock and turned it. It sounded like a complex mechanism within opened up and Robotnik pulled on the doors. But they still refused to budge. In frustration he bashed on the doors and they both swung inwards instead. He looked rather sheepish as he stared into... nothing... just nothing... just a big, black void. The inside of the box didn't appear to have corners, just a shadow void of blackness.

Robotnik stepped into it and appeared to just vanish within, the darkness swallowing him up. With Robotnik gone Amy and Tails moved to help Sonic, the Badniks still guarding them. But they then saw Robotnik exit the box, a look of bewilderment on his face as if he'd just seen a ghost. He looked at the trio with a look which was asking someone to 'explain this'. But to explain 'what' exactly they didn't know.

Gingerly the large man lent over the side of the box, stuck his hand out and waved it up and down as if he should feel something. He then moved his large bulk around the exterior of the box, feeling it as if he expected some trick to be revealed. After he'd circled the box a broad grin appeared on his face.

"Fascinating, Relative Dimensions." Tails didn't understand what he meant. But he clapped his hands with glee and disappeared back into the box. He didn't come out again. What could he be doing in such a small box?

"Tails, I don't feel so good." Sonic said his voice slurred, bringing the attention back to him.

"It's just anaesthetic Sonic. It should just wear off. In time." Tails explained.

Amy hugged Sonic as he rag dolled on her. "Don't worry. I'll look after you, until you're better." Sonics face actually looked scared. What Sonic is going through must be similar to a night terror. Waking up with your body paralysed, unable to move within a nightmare, and perhaps to Sonic, having to live with Amy might be a nightmare.

"What is that thing?" Sonic asked, pragmatic as ever.

"We don't know." Amy said, "Whatever it is Robotnik wants it."

Tails got up and strolled towards the box. But his path was blocked by Badniks who forced him back towards Sonic. They were waiting for ages, but Robotnik didn't seem to come out of the box. What the heck was he doing in there? He can't still be inside it surely?

But Robotnik then emerged and rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Oh, it's more than I ever dreamed of. Hehe!" He giggled. He closed the door and tried to pull the key from the lock. But the box didn't seem to want to let it go.

"What?" He cried as he pulled with all his might, even putting his foot on the door and heaving his bulk behind it. But still the key refused to budge. It appeared to be jammed in. Eventually he gave up, and turned to a bunch of Badniks.

"Dispose of them!" He said, pointing at the trio, before turning on his heel towards his computer. He pulled out a tool kit and appeared to be rummaging around inside it for something. The Badniks approached the three friends, ready to 'dispose of them'.

"We've got one chance!" Tails said quickly, "If we can hold up inside that box-thingy then maybe we've got a chance."

"They're coming to kill us!" Amy screeched.

"Yes, but what if I distract them?" Tails said. "The one thing these Badniks are programmed to do is to obey Robotnik. But an overriding order is to protect him. If I attack Robotnik, the Badniks will see me as a threat and come after me. They'll ignore you, and you can sneak Sonic into the box."

"What about you?" Amy asked, her eyes wide at the realisation that Tails could die doing this heroic deed.

"I'll be okay. I'll just do what Sonic does."

"But Sonic just wings it." Amy complained.

"Exactly!" True, Sonic knew the limits of his speed and skills, Tails didn't. But it was their only plan, and those Badniks weren't going to hang around and wait for them to come up with something better.

So Tails immediately leapt into the air, using his tails to take off and he flew at Robotnik with all his speed and swiftly kicked the scientist in the head. Suddenly all the Badniks turned to Tails and took aim.

"Oh boy, now I've done it!" He said and using his Tails he began to fly around the room as fast as he could, avoiding their blasts and shots, and keeping their attention on him, and off Amy and Sonic as Amy heaved the dead weight of Sonic and dragged him towards the blue box. As Tails flew he tried hiding behind monitors that would then get shot up. He noticed that there appeared to be a delay when the Badniks lost him behind something and reacquired him as he emerged. Maybe he could use that flaw to his advantage.

An energy blast singed his leg and he flew faster. He needed to stay focused, and make sure Robotnik didn't notice what Amy and Sonic were doing.

"Hey!" Robotnik shouted, he'd noticed. "Don't mind that flying rodent. Get Sonic and the girl!"

Some Badnicks peeled away to go after Amy and Sonic. But Amy quickly reached up to the key and turned it in the lock. The door popped open and as she lowered herself down the key fell out of the lock and into her hands. Weird. She then picked up Sonic and began dragging him inside.

Tails took cover behind the blue box. According to Robotnik it was robust, so he banked on the energy blasts not scratching it. He was right, the box held up to the onslaught of fire.

"Oh... Em... Gee!" Came Amy's voice from inside the box. Her voice sounded kind of distant and echoy.

The Badniks stopped firing and Robotnik was coming. He stamped down the stairs and headed towards the box determined to eject Amy and the jelly like Sonic from it. Tails leaned his head out a little on the left hand side of the box, and the Badniks fired at him. Using that delay in their targeting system he swung himself around to the right and to the front of the box, he dived into the narrow door and slammed the door shut just as they opened fire.

His eyes closed he pressed his back against the doors of the box and felt the energy impacts behind him.

"Tails!" Shouted Amy, her voice came from much further away than it should have.

Tails slowly opened his eyes and what he saw made his jaw drop open. He took several paces forwards into a space that was far larger than any phone booth. It was the size of... he didn't know what it was the size of.

They were in a big black void that seemed to go on forever and ever in every direction, just on and on and on.

The only thing that was in here was a large, six sided, mushroom shaped console that looked like it had seen better days. It was burnt, scorched and covered in a thick film of dust. Where the dust had been disturbed was undoubtedly where Robotnik had touched the controls. Sticking out of the top of the console appeared to be a large crystal that rose up into the air.

"Where the heck are we?" Amy asked. "This can't be inside that box?"

"Relative Dimensions, Robotnik had said." Tails looked around in wonder. "And Robotnik had walked all around it." Tails wanted to say it, but he could barely believe it. "It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!"

"Don't be ridicules." Amy said, "there must be some kind of trick to it."

Tails then noticed Sonics limp body on the floor where Amy had discarded him when she'd looked around the room in shock. Now, together they took Sonic in both arms and dragged him over to the console.

Tails looked back at the doors. They seemed to be holding up to the Badniks onslaught so they were safe in here at least.

Sonic was silent, but his eyes betrayed the amazement at what he could see, though he couldn't express it any other way. Amy began trying to rub Sonics face and mouth to see if she could get any feeling back into it.

Tails looked at the console. All of its lights were out and it was clearly dead. A few small pipes and shards of glass littered the place and Tails guessed at one time the crystal in the centre of the console was once housed in a glass cylinder or drum of some kind.

There was a squeak from the door!

"Hey, the door's still unlocked!" Said Robotnik, he was framed in the door and he was coming in! Grinning from ear to ear he advanced on the trio, menace in that crazed face of his.

Amy dropped Sonic and picked up a pipe from the floor and held it over the console.

"Get back Egg-man!" She commanded, "Or I'll smash this thing to pieces!" Amy warned raising the pipe above her head. "I'll smash it, I mean it!"

Robotnik wasn't stopping, and Badniks were now framed in the door and were about to come in after their master.

Amy screamed and brought the pipe down onto the console with as much force as she could muster. It impacted with a loud clang, which echoed around the void.

Suddenly light erupted from the console, from the stalk it sat on which the mushroom shaped console sprouted from the floor, to the crystals in its centre. Light suddenly flooded it. The place began to shake as if it had been hit by an earthquake, and all the consoles lights began winking on and off.

Tails heard a slam as the front door swung shut. He looked towards it, only the door wasn't there anymore, it was gone! What was going on?

Robotnik fell to the floor as the machine began to rock from side to side. The central crystal began to rise and fall, and it looked like it was struggling. Creaks and groans came from it as if it hadn't moved in centuries. Suddenly the entire room tilted at a sharp angle. Tails dived towards the console and grabbed onto the edge of it with one hand, and grabbed onto Sonics limp body with his other. Amy slid down and grabbed onto Sonic's legs to stop herself disappearing into the void. Robotnik wasn't so lucky as he fell and vanished into the blackness that swallowed him.

Suddenly the place flung itself upside down before righting itself again. Sonic landed in a heap on the floor, Amy whacked her head against the side of the console and fell limp. Tails fell across its controls.

Suddenly the crystal forced itself up much further than it had done before and fell again much further than it had before.

THUD! It made as it came to a stop. There was a rumbling noise as the machine continued to shake. The rumbling got louder and louder as if something was coming back to life. The crystal began to cycle through colours, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple and back to red before cycling through them again.

Then the crystal suddenly shot upwards and produced a wheezy-groany noise, and produced the same noise again as it fell back into the console. Each time it rose up and fell back down it produced the same noise but of a different pitch. Tails got the sense that somehow this machine was moving and it was going somewhere.

* * *

The Badniks outside watched as the door had slammed shut. The light on top of the box had glowed red and began to sweep across them with a red light that erupted out of opposite sides of the lamp, the beams dancing around the central lantern as the box produced a pulsating, wheezy-groany noise that changed its pitch and got faster and faster.

If the Badniks could have felt astonishment, they would have expressed it. As they were they could only stare as the blue box appeared to just slowly fade out of existence and vanish entirely.

A Badnik approached and stood in the place the box had once occupied to confirm that it indeed had gone.

* * *

 **To Be Continued...**

* * *

 **Authors notes:** The design of the TARDIS I've left vague as its supposed to be a TARDIS console room we have not seen before. But suffice to say, the TARDIS is badly damaged. That's why the console room lacks things like doors and walls.


End file.
